DISTURBING Parallels exist between the Batman comic above and James Holmes’ fascination with the Joker (once played by Heath Ledger, below). Photo: DC Comics

It was a heart-rending case of life imitating art.

The horrific attack that left 12 dead at a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” bore a shocking resemblance to a fictional storyline in a classic Batman comic.

In the second issue of 1986’s “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” series, written and drawn by Frank Miller, a criminal shoots up a theater full of people after getting fired from his job and going on a rampage of vigilantism.

Set in a dystopian future, the graphic novel’s theater-shooting episode features a character named Arnold Crimp who grows outraged by all the smut that he sees in a porn movie house.

“Arnold Crimp fingers the cold steel thing in this pocket and stares at the movie marquee,” reads the narration, written in a box above a drawing of the scruffy and bug-eyed Crimp.

The character gets madder and madder as he watches the action on the film screen unfold. Finally, there is a drawing of the trench-coat-clad Crimp standing and holding a revolver.

No violence is shown, but the scene ends with the image of a newscast in which the anchor sits in front of a Batman logo and says: “Three slain in Batman-inspired porn-theater shootout. Details to follow . . .”

In another scene, the Joker appears as a guest on the “David Endocrine” show, which is supposed to be a reference to David Letterman.

The green-haired villain — after whom Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes styled himself — is supposed to give a talk about how he has been cured of his criminal ways.

Instead, the Joker gasses the audience and David Endocrine to death.

The current movie, which opened early yesterday, also includes deadly violence on a massive scale, including a bomb attack on a football stadium and the explosion of bridges.

The villain, Bane, wears a mask similar to the gas mask worn by the Colorado shooting suspect, and he frequently uses gas in his attacks on his innocent victims.

“The action does frighteningly mirror scenes in the film, as the villain Bane leads armed gunmen frequently into crowds of people, even employing the use of gas and smoke grenades,” said the comic-book news Web site Newsarama.

There is also another major link between violence at movie theaters and the Batman comics franchise. A young Bruce Wayne vows to become Batman and fight crime in Gotham City after his parents are murdered outside a movie theater.

(Warner Bros.)

DISTURBING Parallels exist between the Batman comic above and James Holmes’ fascination with the Joker (once played by Heath Ledger, right). (
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